After the political storm over picking delegates from other parties, the BJP reached out to the Opposition seeking a consensus on names.

This morning, the Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju spoke with the Trinamool chairperson Mamata Banerjee. A similar call was made to Uddhav Thackeray, the head of the Shiv Sena (UBT) on Monday night.

Following her conversation with Rijiju, which lasted for several minutes, Mamata recommended the name of the Diamond Harbour MP and the party’s general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee as a member of one of the teams.

The Union government had on Saturday announced the name of Trinamool’s Berhampore MP and former cricketer Yusuf Pathan, which had irked the Trinamool leadership.

The party had conveyed its displeasure over the unilateral announcement.

Pathan was included in the team being sent to Indonesia, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Japan and Singapore. The team being led by BJP ally JDU MP Sanjay Kumar Jha also includes veteran Congress leader and former external affairs minister Salman Khursheed and the CPM Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas and six others.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) said the Union minister had clarified the BJP was not playing politics with the selection of the panel members.

“This delegation is about India against terrorism, not politics and on being reassured this, we have also assured the government that we will do what is right and needed for our country via this delegation,” wrote the Shiv Sena (UBT) on its official X handle.

The party MP Priyanka Chaturvedi will be touring the UK, France, Germany, EU, Italy and Denmark led by the BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad.

The party said its views on the Pahalgam terror attack and the alleged intelligence failure would be kept on reserve for the time being.

“We do have our opinions about the diplomatic situation and the failed intelligence/ security apparatus on Pahalgam, and we will keep asking questions in the best interest of our nation, within our country,” the Shiv Sena (UBT) said. “However, we must rally globally to expose Pak-based terrorism, in order to isolate and destroy it.”

The Shiv Sena (UBT) also expressed its reservation over the manner in which the Centre went about picking candidates of its choice.

“We have also communicated to the Union government that while we are united in this cause, a protocol of better informing the parties could have been followed to avoid chaos and mismanagement,” the Shiv Sena (UBT) said.

Sources said Thackeray, the former chief minister of Maharashtra, has reiterated the demand for an all-party meeting on Operation Sindoor.